A new study should serve as a bright red warning light for any business with a dormant or lazy Twitter presence: your customers are tweeting, and they expect you to hear them. The study, by Maritz Research and evolve24, surveyed 1,298 Twitter users who had complained at least once about a brand or business.

As it stands, only about one third of respondents to the survey said that their tweeted complaint received some sort of response from the company they tweeted to. However, 83 percent who received a follow up said that they liked or loved hearing from the company.

This is a great opportunity for brands who are willing to put in the extra effort on Twitter. There is a huge customer base just waiting eagerly to hear from you – and even a simply @reply pointing them in the direction of a FAQ will do to show them that you’re listening.

Only 15 percent of respondents said that they were dissatisfied with the response they received from the company. This shows that merely responding will likely be enough to show your customers that you’re listening.

However, people do care, at least a little, about the type of response they get from businesses on Twitter. Well over half of respondents, 63 percent, said that they would hate or not like it if the company responded with a tweet that had to do with something other than the complaint.

So just respond to the complaints your customers send your way via Twitter with a simple, direct answer and you’ll make their day.